Vehicle



0. H. MENNING.

VEHICLE.

APPLICATION "man MAY 20. 1918.

Patented July 1, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

INVENTOR 9%.

BY Haw-M ATT ORNEYS.

'ruu COLUMBIA vLANouRAPu cu, WASHINGTON, n. a.

0. H. MENNING.

VEHICLE.

APPLICATION FILED MAYZO. 191a.

' Patented July 1, 1919.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

THE COLUMBIA FLANOGRAIH co., WASHINGTON, D. c.

to the truck. I

'o'r'ro HSMENNING, or nousron, TEXAS.

. To dlldchohtz'toaay concern:-

VEHICLE.

Be it known that I, O rr HLMENnING, a citizen, of the; United States, residing at ouston, in the county of Harris and' State of :Texas,,have invented certain. new and useful Improvementsin Vehicles, of which .tlieiollowing. is a specification.

a, This invention relates tonew and useful improvements-in a vehicle.v

The, obj ect of the invention; is to provide t. ,vehicle of" the character-descrrbed-v which isadapted foruse in1carry-in {heavy loads,

and in its preferable-form; em odies a truck,

and one or more trailers, flexibly connected thereto. l ntcasetmoresthan'one trailer is used, saidtrailers are flex-lblyconnected together, the flexible connections embodying improved features more specifically described hereinafter.

, Another ohject of the-"invention isto pro? videaa *vehicle of the character described whichvisw adapted, for carrying heavy loads,

and which atthesame time is so constructed that it may be readily turned aroundon f 2 5 smalh space,-. and will readily, follow the bendsta-and, turns, n traversing; a crooked road, and: the turning-of corners.

' j A still further feature of the invention resides; the provision of a vehicle constructed -o-frunits, connectedrtogethelf, by means of flexible} couplings, s whlch W111 readily yleld when the;yehicle is passing-oven'a.;rough or uneven roa'dtsurface:'wlthout'v-twistlng or 5 injuring .saidvcouplings' or other. parts of '35 I the vehicle wp o I the above and other obJects in view g l the inventiomhas particular: relation to certain novelfeatures of construct on, opera.-

tion. and arrangement of; parts, an. example of which isgiven inythis specification, and

illustrated in the -accompanying. drawings,

i a single trailer,,.and

Figure '1, plan {1 view tr. the vehicle,

showinga truelnand twoitrailersuconnected thereto.- o 5 Fig. 2, is aside elevation thereof: I I Fig 3,, is" a sectional view, taken, on the line-3+s3of I Y Fi 4, is a fragmentary .planlyiew; showing *1; e-"conne'ction of the front trailer to Fig. 5, shows a fragmentary-plan view of I Fig. 6 shows a fragmentary side elevation-,therbde 1 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 1, 1919.

ApPIicationfiIedMay-W, 1918. Serial No. 235,659.

"the respective coupling poles 8 and 9, which extend throughthe long bearings 10, and 11, respectively, carriedby the bodies of the trailers; The rear end of the front trailer carries a collar12, which is secured in position by 5 means of the braces 13, 13, and through which the coupling pole 8 extends, and the rear trailer has the front and rear bearings I l and 15, secured to thefront and rear ends of the body, by means of the respective braces 16,16, and 17, 17, and the coupling pole 9 is slidable through said respective bearings 14, 11, and 15, but the front coupling pole 8 is fixed against lengthwise movement in the bearing 10.. The rear end of-the coupling pole 8 has'the upper and lower straps, 18, 18,. secured thereto, which extend-out beyond the rear end of the pole, and to the facing sides of the pro- ]ectin ends are secured the respective circular earing plates 19, 19, and secured to and extending from the front end of the coupling pole'9 are the straps 20, 20, to the extending'ends of which are secured the 'circular bearing plates 21, 21, which fit against the corresponding plates 19.- These plates have alinedcentral bearings through which the pin 22 extends, thus forming a flexible connection between said coupling poles. Underneathithe bearing; 14, a double tree 23 is piv0ted,the ends ofwhich areprovided with elongated bearings 24, 24-, and the chains 25, 25, are fastened at their forward ends to the staples 26, .26, which are secured to the rear end of the body of the front trailer, one oneach side. The rear of these chains have clevises 27, 27, which embrace'the respective ends of the double tree and. their pins-pass through .the respective bearings 24, and are providedwith antifri'ction rollers 28.

A load carrying frame 29 is mounted 7 upon theitrailer" bodiesand has its respective ends pivotally connected thereto, by means of the king pins 30 and 31,respeotively, in the well known manner.

For the purpose of connecting the front front ends of these side membersare the arcuate plates 33, 33, which are spaced apart, forming the bearing through which the link 32 extends, said bearing permitting the vertical movement of the link: but holding it firmly against lateral movement. The upper and the lower ends of the plates are secured together by means of the bolts 34, 3 1, which pass through the respective pipe sections 35, 35, interposed between said plates and against the ends of which the respective plates rest. The forward end of the link 32 has the bearing members 36, 36, secured thereto, and arranged in alinement, one in front of the other. The numeral 37 designates the circular bearing plate'tothe upper side of which a strap is secured whose ends are formed into spindles 38, 38, which operate in their respective bearings 36, 36. The rear end of the trailer body 1, carries the bearings 39, 39, which are spaced apart, and in transverse alinement, and a bearing plate 40 is provided upon which the hearing plate 37 rests, said last mentioned plate having the strap 41 secured thereto, whose ends terminate in spindles 42,42, "which operate in the bearings 39. The bearing plates 3'7 and-40 have alined central bean ings to receive the bearing 'pin 43, upon which saidbearing plates operate, thus forming a universal connection between the truck and the trailer attached thereto, forming a flexible connection necessary in passing over rough and uneven road surface,

thus imparting hicle. i

- In Figs. 5 and 6, I have shown a single trailer connected to the truck. When a sin gle trailer is used, the couplingpole 8' is extended forwardly and the bearings 36, 36, are secured to the forwardend thereof; The forward end of the chains 25, 25, in this form, are connected to the staples 26 26,, which are secured to'the truck body, and the rear ends of these chains are connected to the double-tree 23, as herein described, said double-tree being pivotally connected to "and supported-by the bearing 44:,which is -carried byfthe front end of the trailer body, and through which the coupling pole 81 extends. Ingoing around corners, or in turning around, as illustrated in Fig. 1,"the' flexible connection uniting thecoupling poles 8 'and9 yields, the pole 9"sliding through its bearing 11. The draft chains great flexibility to the ve- 25, 25, serve to connect the trailers together, and sustain the pull, while the coupling poles being rigid in themselves, serve to guide the trailers and hold them in their proper relative position in making turns, and the connection of the draft chains to the pivotally mounted double-tree permits said double-tree and chains to accommodate themselves to the different positions of the trailers in following crooked roads, going around curves and in turning around. What I claim is: i v 1. A vehicle including front and rear wheels, frames mounted thereon, coupling poles attached to the frames, one of which is fixed, and the'other of which is slidable through a bearing in its frame, the adjoining ends of said coupling poles being flexibly connected together, a doubletree provided with oblong end bearings, pivoted .to one of said frames, draft-chains connected -at one endto the other frame, and whose other ends are adjustably connected to said bearings. 2. A vehicle, including front and rear wheels, frames supported thereby, coupling poles connected to the frames and flexibly connected together, a double-tree having oblong end, bearings pivoted to one frame,

clevises carriedby'the double tree and mov- 3 able in said bearingslengthwise relative to the double-tree, chains connected atone end to said clevises and at their other 'end's fas tened to the other frame. I

3. A vehicle including a truck, a trailer connected thereto, means of a universal coupling, a double-tree pivoted tothe trailer and having oblong end bearings, draft chains fastened at one end to the truck body, and 'means' movable lengthwise relative to the double-tree in said bearingsfto which the other ends of the chain are attached.

4. A vehicleincluding a truck, a pair of trailersconnected thereto, a flexible connec tion by means of which the front trailer is attached to the truck, coupling poles carried 'by'the trailer'fram'es and'flexibly' con being secured in its frame and "the, other being slidably mounted in "its frame, a

.110 nected together, one of said coupling poles double-treepivotally secured to the last mentioned frame, draft chains attached" at one end to' said double-tree bymeans'which' are movable lengthwise, relative thereto, and the other ends of said chains being secured to the other framel Intestimony whereof I have; signed my name to this specificationin'the presence of two subscribingwitnessesb- 1' 3; OTTO HL'MENNING.

Witnesses: JQC: BAILEY, i

Y E. V. HARDWAY.

Qopiea orthlapatentmay bebbtainedfiorfive"cents each, hi add-resting thecommissionerntz-ratentsa Washington, D. Go" 

